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For God and His People: Ulrich Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation
For God and His People by Merle d Aubigne is a Christian biography about Ulrich Zwingli (1484 1531) from Switzerland who struggled to reform the church according to the pure precepts of the Word of God. Plots and counterplots, rioting mobs, and the threat of execution confronted Zwingli and his supporters, but through it all he sought to be a faithful shepherd to his flock, knowing that his loyalty must ultimately lie not with kings and princes but was for God and His people."
286 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2000
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39 people want to read
About the author
Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubigné
523 books16 followersJean-Henri Merle d'Aubigné (16 August 1794 – 21 October 1872) was a Swiss Protestant minister and historian of the Reformation.
D'Aubigné was born at Eaux Vives, a neighbourhood of Geneva. A street in the area is named after him. The ancestors of his father, Robert Merle d'Aubigné (1755–1799), were French Protestant refugees. The life Jean-Henri's parents chose for him was in commerce; but in college at the Académie de Genève, he instead decided on Christian ministry. He was profoundly influenced by Robert Haldane, the Scottish missionary and preacher who visited Geneva and became a leading light in Le Réveil, a conservative Protestant evangelical movement of spiritual revival.
When d'Aubigné went abroad to further his education in 1817, Germany was about to celebrate the tercentenary of the Reformation; and thus early he conceived the ambition to write the history of that great epoch. Studying at Berlin University for eight months 1817–1818, d'Aubigne received inspiration from teachers as diverse as J. A. W. Neander and W. M. L. de Wette.
In 1818, d'Aubigné took the post of pastor of the French Protestant church at Hamburg, where he served for five years. In 1823, he was called to become pastor of the Franco-German Brussels Protestant Church and preacher to the court of King William I of the Netherlands of the House of Orange-Nassau.
During the Belgian revolution of 1830, d'Aubigné thought it advisable to undertake pastoral work at home in Switzerland rather than accept an educational post in the family of the Dutch king. The Evangelical Society had been founded with the idea of promoting evangelical Christianity in Geneva and elsewhere, but a need arose for a theological seminary to train pastors. On his return to Switzerland, d'Aubigné was invited to become professor of church history in such a seminary, and he also continued to labor in the cause of evangelical Protestantism. In him the Evangelical Alliance found a hearty promoter. He frequently visited England, was made a D.C.L. v Oxford University, and received civic honours from the city of Edinburgh. He died suddenly in 1872.
The first portion of d'Aubigne's Histoire de la Reformation – History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century – which was devoted to the earlier period of the movement in Germany, i.e., Martin Luther's time, at once earned a foremost place among modern French ecclesiastical historians, and was translated into most European languages. The second portion, The History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, dealing with reform in the French Reformer's sphere, exhaustively treats the subject with the same scholarship as the earlier work, but the second volume did not meet with the same success.
Among minor treatises authored by d'Aubigné, the most important are his vindication of the character and the aims of Oliver Cromwell, and his sketch of the trends of the Church of Scotland.
(From Wikipedia)
D'Aubigné was born at Eaux Vives, a neighbourhood of Geneva. A street in the area is named after him. The ancestors of his father, Robert Merle d'Aubigné (1755–1799), were French Protestant refugees. The life Jean-Henri's parents chose for him was in commerce; but in college at the Académie de Genève, he instead decided on Christian ministry. He was profoundly influenced by Robert Haldane, the Scottish missionary and preacher who visited Geneva and became a leading light in Le Réveil, a conservative Protestant evangelical movement of spiritual revival.
When d'Aubigné went abroad to further his education in 1817, Germany was about to celebrate the tercentenary of the Reformation; and thus early he conceived the ambition to write the history of that great epoch. Studying at Berlin University for eight months 1817–1818, d'Aubigne received inspiration from teachers as diverse as J. A. W. Neander and W. M. L. de Wette.
In 1818, d'Aubigné took the post of pastor of the French Protestant church at Hamburg, where he served for five years. In 1823, he was called to become pastor of the Franco-German Brussels Protestant Church and preacher to the court of King William I of the Netherlands of the House of Orange-Nassau.
During the Belgian revolution of 1830, d'Aubigné thought it advisable to undertake pastoral work at home in Switzerland rather than accept an educational post in the family of the Dutch king. The Evangelical Society had been founded with the idea of promoting evangelical Christianity in Geneva and elsewhere, but a need arose for a theological seminary to train pastors. On his return to Switzerland, d'Aubigné was invited to become professor of church history in such a seminary, and he also continued to labor in the cause of evangelical Protestantism. In him the Evangelical Alliance found a hearty promoter. He frequently visited England, was made a D.C.L. v Oxford University, and received civic honours from the city of Edinburgh. He died suddenly in 1872.
The first portion of d'Aubigne's Histoire de la Reformation – History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century – which was devoted to the earlier period of the movement in Germany, i.e., Martin Luther's time, at once earned a foremost place among modern French ecclesiastical historians, and was translated into most European languages. The second portion, The History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, dealing with reform in the French Reformer's sphere, exhaustively treats the subject with the same scholarship as the earlier work, but the second volume did not meet with the same success.
Among minor treatises authored by d'Aubigné, the most important are his vindication of the character and the aims of Oliver Cromwell, and his sketch of the trends of the Church of Scotland.
(From Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 2, 2009
Zwingli is one of those people in history who are consistently overlooked or ignored, despite their clear importance. Partly this is because of mistakes he made, particularly his confusion of the church and the state at the end of his life, and partly this is because he's overshadowed by the other characters of the time, especially Luther and Calvin. Yet Zwingli is still worthy of study, if only because of his exciting life. He began preaching the Reformation in a shrine to Mary, and ended up dying in battle when the forces of Zurich lost to the Catholic army of the "Five Cantons." Even Luther's life doesn't have that kind of drama in it :)
Though Zwingli should be studied, I'm not sure this is the book to use to do it. Merle d'Aubigne is a wonderful writerr, and his History of the Reformation of the sixteenth century is an absolute masterpiece. This book, however, is a compilation of sections from d'Aubigne's larger history concerning Zwingli. This certainly has the benefit of being shorter (~250 pages instead of 4 volumes), a lot of what makes d'Aubigne worth reading is left out. We get the details of Zwingli's life and the doctrine and flavor of his preaching, but we don't get a lot of the setting and tempo of the world around him. We miss seeing how Switzerland before the Reformation was a confederation of mercenaries, fighting each other and the rest of the world for money, living in a brutal and bloody society, and how after the Reformation the Swiss society was transformed to one we would recognize as a pastoral nation of devout mountaineers.
A new biography of Zwingli, along the lines of Oberman's Luther Man Between God and the Devil would be the most useful thing somoeone could come out with...
Though Zwingli should be studied, I'm not sure this is the book to use to do it. Merle d'Aubigne is a wonderful writerr, and his History of the Reformation of the sixteenth century is an absolute masterpiece. This book, however, is a compilation of sections from d'Aubigne's larger history concerning Zwingli. This certainly has the benefit of being shorter (~250 pages instead of 4 volumes), a lot of what makes d'Aubigne worth reading is left out. We get the details of Zwingli's life and the doctrine and flavor of his preaching, but we don't get a lot of the setting and tempo of the world around him. We miss seeing how Switzerland before the Reformation was a confederation of mercenaries, fighting each other and the rest of the world for money, living in a brutal and bloody society, and how after the Reformation the Swiss society was transformed to one we would recognize as a pastoral nation of devout mountaineers.
A new biography of Zwingli, along the lines of Oberman's Luther Man Between God and the Devil would be the most useful thing somoeone could come out with...
Read
July 28, 2011Jean Henri Merle d’Aubigné’s biography of Ulrich Zwingli begins simply by setting the scene in the Swiss Alps of Zwingli birth. The book continues, though, as more than a timeline of events. Merle d’Aubigné tells the grander story of an entire nation centered on the figure of Zwingli.
The biography does not end with Zwingli’s death, but finishes with Zwingli’s influence on the nation and Christianity. Before Merle d’Aubigné arrives there, he tells of the Swiss religion. Though Zwingli is central to the book, his figure does not dominate the text.
The narrative weaves in stories in which Zwingli is a peripheral, if not absent figure. Many characters walk these scenes, displaying the varied cast involved. These narratives open the view beyond a mere retelling of Zwingli’s chronology to a view of Switzerland’s religious tenor in that time and others’ work in the reforming task.
Mixed motivations were involved in the reformation. Zwingli was the primary theological impetus, but political motivations were present in light of a strong sense of Swiss nationalism. Merle d’Aubigné consistently records Zwingli’s appeals to Swiss ancestry and a history of confederate independence as motivations for breaking with foreign Papal authority. So, the incentive for reformation was not only to form a church of doctrinal integrity but also to form a national church independent of foreign rule.
The strongest facet of this book is breadth in including narratives beyond the life of Zwingli himself. Doing so dampens the impression of Zwingli as a superhuman reformer, battling Catholicism as a lone warrior. Contemporary evangelicals can easily perceive reformers like Luther, Calvin and Zwingli as heroes who singlehandedly did their work.
Merle d’Aubigné’s inclusion of these narratives gives readers the broader perspective that Zwingli did not act alone. He could only accomplish the reforming task with the aid of men like Bucer, Oecolampadius, Myconius and others whose names, though easily forgotten, were instrumental to Zwingli’s work. Without this supporting cast, the reformation would not have come to Switzerland. Merle d’Aubigné’s biography clearly shows this, lest readers get that impression that Zwingli could conquer Catholicism alone.
The inclusion of references to nationalistic stimuli for the Swiss reformation completes the picture. Luther’s simultaneous reformation began as a purely theological matter that took on nationalistic overtones. Merle d’Aubigné makes clear that nationalist overtones were always involved with the Swiss. This aids contemporary evangelical readers who might idealize Zwingli’s theological emphases as the sole inspiration of his reform. Merle d’Aubigné elucidates that nationalism helped catalyze the theological reformation.
The book is listed as appropriate for audiences of 15-year-olds and upward. The book’s vocabulary and writing style is indeed very accessible. This praise might be due more to the translator than Merle d’Aubigné. Word usage is not overly complicated and a glossary of time period specific terms is included, although it could have contained a wider range of words.
The narratives are picturesque, yet not too florid. The dialogues do not read like a stenographer’s report but advance the story. Particularly touching is the tale of the first martyrs of the reformation. Merle d’Aubigné’s biography need not be an esoteric account of a history, and his work involves the reader in the drama of the events that led to the separation of many Swiss cantons from the Roman Catholic Church.
Merle d’Aubigné’s biography is an accessible read yet does not lose its value in content. Most importantly are the roundness of Zwingli’s character and the mood of the entire Swiss nation in its reformation. Zwingli receives appropriate honor for what he accomplished without being over exalted. Most importantly, the biography recognizes the role of the whole Swiss nation and Zwingli’s lingering effects on all of Christianity. For this reason, Merle d’Aubigné’s biography transcends the genre and is not just the story of a man but also the story of a movement within a nation.
The biography does not end with Zwingli’s death, but finishes with Zwingli’s influence on the nation and Christianity. Before Merle d’Aubigné arrives there, he tells of the Swiss religion. Though Zwingli is central to the book, his figure does not dominate the text.
The narrative weaves in stories in which Zwingli is a peripheral, if not absent figure. Many characters walk these scenes, displaying the varied cast involved. These narratives open the view beyond a mere retelling of Zwingli’s chronology to a view of Switzerland’s religious tenor in that time and others’ work in the reforming task.
Mixed motivations were involved in the reformation. Zwingli was the primary theological impetus, but political motivations were present in light of a strong sense of Swiss nationalism. Merle d’Aubigné consistently records Zwingli’s appeals to Swiss ancestry and a history of confederate independence as motivations for breaking with foreign Papal authority. So, the incentive for reformation was not only to form a church of doctrinal integrity but also to form a national church independent of foreign rule.
The strongest facet of this book is breadth in including narratives beyond the life of Zwingli himself. Doing so dampens the impression of Zwingli as a superhuman reformer, battling Catholicism as a lone warrior. Contemporary evangelicals can easily perceive reformers like Luther, Calvin and Zwingli as heroes who singlehandedly did their work.
Merle d’Aubigné’s inclusion of these narratives gives readers the broader perspective that Zwingli did not act alone. He could only accomplish the reforming task with the aid of men like Bucer, Oecolampadius, Myconius and others whose names, though easily forgotten, were instrumental to Zwingli’s work. Without this supporting cast, the reformation would not have come to Switzerland. Merle d’Aubigné’s biography clearly shows this, lest readers get that impression that Zwingli could conquer Catholicism alone.
The inclusion of references to nationalistic stimuli for the Swiss reformation completes the picture. Luther’s simultaneous reformation began as a purely theological matter that took on nationalistic overtones. Merle d’Aubigné makes clear that nationalist overtones were always involved with the Swiss. This aids contemporary evangelical readers who might idealize Zwingli’s theological emphases as the sole inspiration of his reform. Merle d’Aubigné elucidates that nationalism helped catalyze the theological reformation.
The book is listed as appropriate for audiences of 15-year-olds and upward. The book’s vocabulary and writing style is indeed very accessible. This praise might be due more to the translator than Merle d’Aubigné. Word usage is not overly complicated and a glossary of time period specific terms is included, although it could have contained a wider range of words.
The narratives are picturesque, yet not too florid. The dialogues do not read like a stenographer’s report but advance the story. Particularly touching is the tale of the first martyrs of the reformation. Merle d’Aubigné’s biography need not be an esoteric account of a history, and his work involves the reader in the drama of the events that led to the separation of many Swiss cantons from the Roman Catholic Church.
Merle d’Aubigné’s biography is an accessible read yet does not lose its value in content. Most importantly are the roundness of Zwingli’s character and the mood of the entire Swiss nation in its reformation. Zwingli receives appropriate honor for what he accomplished without being over exalted. Most importantly, the biography recognizes the role of the whole Swiss nation and Zwingli’s lingering effects on all of Christianity. For this reason, Merle d’Aubigné’s biography transcends the genre and is not just the story of a man but also the story of a movement within a nation.
December 24, 2012
So now I've discovered my Kleager ancestors in Switzerland, I am fascinated with history books of Switzerland. I have learned that I have an 8X's great uncle who was a monk at Einsideln, Canton Schwyz, Switzerland in the mid 1600's. Ulrich Zwingli, the priest who tried to start the Swiss Reformation against the Catholic church in the mid 1500's, was also a monk at Einsideln. Big connection for me, and I'm trying to learn all I can about the area, the time, the setting of my ancestor's lives.
This book was written in the 1800's about Zwingli. It has an old style, is very biased and opinionated, and as it was translated from French I believe, is some times difficult to read! But some how I really enjoyed it, and felt it gave me a taste of what life was like at that time and place, and what were the practices of the Catholic church that these reformers (Zwingli was a contemporary of Luther, though they were after different ideas) were so opposed to.
A very interesting read.
This book was written in the 1800's about Zwingli. It has an old style, is very biased and opinionated, and as it was translated from French I believe, is some times difficult to read! But some how I really enjoyed it, and felt it gave me a taste of what life was like at that time and place, and what were the practices of the Catholic church that these reformers (Zwingli was a contemporary of Luther, though they were after different ideas) were so opposed to.
A very interesting read.
June 22, 2015
I reread d'Aubigne's chapters on Zwingli in preparation for our trip to Europe. He is very readable, but at times it feels too heavily guided and a little incomplete. However, this may just be due to the 19th century style of writing.
He criticizes Zwingli for being both a pastor and a statesman. I believe this is unfair, as the Bible does not prohibit someone from being involved in both church and state. There are plenty of valid criticisms to make towards Zwingli, but that is not one of them.
I did appreciate d'Aubigne's detailed account of the Battle of Kappel, in which Zwingli was killed.
He criticizes Zwingli for being both a pastor and a statesman. I believe this is unfair, as the Bible does not prohibit someone from being involved in both church and state. There are plenty of valid criticisms to make towards Zwingli, but that is not one of them.
I did appreciate d'Aubigne's detailed account of the Battle of Kappel, in which Zwingli was killed.
November 6, 2012
A sympathetic look at the heart of the Reformation and one of its magisterial reformers, Ulrich Zwingli. Not sure if it's the editing or the translation, but the style is choppy and disjunctive at points. The material itself is more devotional (but not hagiographic) than academic, and it's an older treatment of an overlooked figure edited for a new audience. A warranted effort and a valuable read.
August 6, 2011
This is almost to Zwingli's life what Bainton's account is to Luther's. It's a worthwhile read, but rather dry, and the author tends to harp a little too much on what he perceives as Zwingli's greatest failing: trying to be both a man of God and a man of State.
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August 21, 20120127
Want to read
February 4, 2009I started reading this book years ago, but stopped for some reason or another. I should pick it up again and finish it some time.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews